Processing
Better Sliced Bread:
Accuracy and Precision matter
The baking of bread is
something most of us
take for granted, but as
Baker Perkins has shown
with some of its latest
machines, there are still
various ways in which
accuracy and precision in
the process can lead to
better results, and even
some cost savings.
34 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA APRIL/MAY 2007
W
henever some new and clever gets invented, it is said to be the
“best thing since sliced bread”. While sliced bread is considered
the benchmark for a clever innovations, little has has been done to
improve the ubiquitous bread loaf, that is until now.
After a century’s worth of experience in the baking industry, Baker Perkins
has responded to mounting pressure on plant bakers to raise quality with a
series of innovative developments in mixing and forming equipment. These
focus on achieving gentler dough handling, which is a clear path to superior
bread quality and value, enabling plant bakers world-wide to combine the
highest standards with economic production.
Gentle dough handling is the theme of its new product development
programme. Mixing, dividing and final moulding have all been upgraded to
offer bakers improved product quality and process control, whilst retaining all
the reliability and low cost of ownership benefits of the original machines
Creating the ideal dough structure in the mixer, then carefully handling the
dough through the dividing, rounding and moulding phases, preserves the
integrity of the dough structure, and results in a loaf with higher consumer
appeal.
The improvements are focused in three areas: Tweedy mixers, Accurist
dividers and Multitex moulders. These mixers, dividers and moulders can be
installed as integrated systems, or as stand-alone units that enhance the
efficiency of an existing line. Retrofit packages have also been introduced
allowing bakers to take advantage of the latest performance enhancing
developments on equipment that is not yet life expired.
Tweedy mixing
Dependable weighing of ingredients and effective mixing are essential to
achieving consistent, high product quality in plant bakeries. Today’s flagship
Baker Perkins product is the Tweedy mixing system – a high-energy, complete
production plant from ingredient weighing to delivery to the divider. It
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incorporates features combining quality enhancement with

cost reduction.
One such innovation is pressure/vacuum mixing, which
has made a major impact in bakeries throughout Europe,
Africa and Australasia. This method gives cost saving
and quality enhancing benefits including an increased
yield; improved crumb colour and softness; longer shelf
life; and a reduction in expensive Ascorbic Acid normally
used to aid oxidation.
The pressure/vacuum process involves application of
pressure and vacuum sequentially to the mixing bowl. Air
is occluded into the dough by pressurising the bowl in the
first part of the cycle, providing more oxygen to enhance
the operation of Ascorbic Acid as the oxidising agent. In
the second mixing phase, partial vacuum controls the size
of the bubbles in the dough to refine the crumb structure.
The pressure and vacuum stages of the cycle can be
adjusted so that the full range of structures can be produced,
from open-structured breads such as baguettes to pan
breads with close and uniform structures. Traditional
process control characteristics – flour/water weight
proportioning, accurate water blending and energy control
– are all retained.
The Tweedy range covers five machines, in 220, 275,
340 and 385kg batch sizes, with outputs reaching 5,400

FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA APRIL/MAY 2007 35

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kg/hour. There is also a 170kg batch
size machine specifically designed for
the small to medium sized baker.
The definitive mixer for the
Chorleywood process, Tweedy
systems comprise a fully integrated
mixer, weigher, tub hoist and control
panel, and handle mechanically
developed, bulk fermented or
accelerated dough. They are ideal for
bread using wheat or wheat/rye flour
blends, bread rolls, hamburger buns
and pizzas – as well as cake and pastry
mixing.
The majority of leading industrial
bakery businesses in the UK and
Ireland, Europe, Africa and
Australasia specify Tweedy
machines, both for new projects and
as profit enhancing replacements for
previous generation technology.
Baker Perkins claims it can adapt
each system to individual specific
requirements. Feeding arrangements
36 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA APRIL/MAY 2007
can be tailored, the position of the
operator interface is flexible, twin
mixers can feed a single hoist, and full
tilt automatic forward or backward
discharge eliminates the need for a
separate hoist. Effective ingredient
dispersion and uniform dough
development, consistent from mix to
mix, is driven by an efficient control
system. Two retrofit options enable
bakeries to maintain their competitive
edge without the need to replace
machinery.
A retrofit package was piloted on a
Tweedy mixer installed in a leading
plant bakery; extensive trials produced
the same process benefits as those
achieved on new machines, and the
bakery quickly added the pressure/
vacuum option to the rest of the Tweedy
mixers installed in the group.
The upgrade package includes a
new mixing bowl and lid clamp
arrangement, a pressure/vacuum
blower and pipework, and
strengthening of the mixer frame. The
control element will involve either a
modification package, or new
customised controls, depending on
existing arrangements.
Bakeries can also rejuvenate
existing Tweedy mixers with an
upgraded control system. Better
consistency of the mixing process,
less maintenance, and a more user-
friendly operator interface are among
the benefits - many Tweedy mixers
in daily use are mechanically sound,
but their control systems are obsolete
and provide limited functionality.
New control systems are all based on
industry standard off-the-shelf
components, but are tailored to suit
individual requirements.
Recent machines incorporating
Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)
and Human Machine Interface (HMI)
control systems can be upgraded with
four key features:
1. A reporting system that records
process conditions and ingredients used
in every mix;
2. A production data capture system
automatically recording mixing
variables, quality checks and causes of
downtime;
3. Remote monitoring reducing
downtime by rapid fault diagnosis and
rectification;
4. An operator swipe card system to
enhance security by restricting use to
authorised personnel.
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
upgrade is a further possibility,
providing surge and spike protection to
computer equipment as well as
minimising or eliminating data loss in
the event of power failure.
Accurist dividing
The new generation of Baker
Perkins ‘Accurist’ dough divider – the
Accurist2 - offers bakers improved
product quality and process control
with lower production costs, whilst
retaining all the benefits of the
original machine.
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The key development in the
Accurist2 is the introduction of servo-
control to the ram movement,
permitting low-pressure operation
that minimises product damage and
improves end-product quality.
The more gently a dough is
treated, the higher the cell count – the
number of micro-bubbles retained in
the dough structure: the effect is to
create a loaf with a finer crumb
structure that is more resilient and
with better colour.
Extensive production trials show
that the new machine retains the
consistent Accurist scaling accuracy
that has set the industry standard for
more than 20 years. Key to the success
of more than 600 machines at work
throughout the world is maintaining
a Standard Deviation (SD) of just 2.5
to 3.5 grams on an 800-gram loaf over
10,000 hours of operation, with no
parts being replaced.
Intelligent control of the ram
movement means that pressure on the
dough can be reduced by up to 50%
as it is pushed into the division box,
with no loss of scaling accuracy. Cell
count increases as pressure is reduced,
and trials over a range of products and
weights show a consistent 10%
increase in cell count.
The servo drive motor on the
Accurist2 replaces mechanical drive
- the fundamental advantage is
independent, accurate control of
pressure to a setpoint. Additionally,
38 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA APRIL/MAY 2007
the introduction of an HMI provides
full recipe control and weight
adjustment, whilst Dynamic Dough
Control software allows the divider
to respond to changes in the dough
on every stroke for maximum
consistency.
A number of improvements to the
Accurist principles, identified by
Baker Perkins in collaboration with
leading plant bakers, contribute to an
even lower cost of ownership on the
Accurist2. Dough leakage has been
almost eliminated by the combination
of low pressure dividing and design
improvements to the ram. Trials
consistently show leakage reduced by
80% to minimal levels. Oil
consumption was another target for
cost reduction. An improved oiling
arrangement has cut this from 1.5 to
1 litre per hour.
The Accurist2 can produce a wide
range of products, weights and
throughputs, with a stroke rate
varying between 10 and 30 per minute
– on both no-time and fermented
doughs. An existing plant can easily
accommodate the improved machine.
The key to the continuing success
of the Accurist is its ability to
minimise Standard Deviation
throughout its working life. That
applies across the complete range of
Accurist machines, at high operating
speeds and in the most demanding
operating conditions. It provides
precise scaling even for ‘difficult’
sticky, tight or gassy doughs.
Long life is a recognised strong
point of the Accurist. Typical
operating life for components include
35,000 hours for the camshaft and top
box assembly, 24,000 hours for the
front plate, 18,000 hours for the ram,
16,000 hours for the dies, and 10,000
hours for the knife.
A range of pocket formats
provides the ability to achieve dough
weights between 120 and 1600 gram,
with outputs varying from 2,400 to
14,400 pieces per hour.
Multitex4 moulding
The Multitex4 dough moulder is
creating production cost savings that
contribute significantly to a rapid
return on investment.
The Multitex4 has, uniquely, four
pairs of sheeting rollers – each pair
has individually controlled variable
gap and speed; a 2-drive machine is
an option. This arrangement
improves end product quality by
controlling size, shape and length-to-
width ratio of the dough sheet prior
to coiling. It allows tighter coiling,
with more coils, while at the same
time significantly reducing stress to
the dough through a more progressive
thickness reduction.
Engineers and process
technologists utilising bakery industry
research into dough rheology
identified maximising dough cell
count, and reducing the dough piece
as progressively as possible, as key
factors which impact on bread quality.
The number of moulding rolls was
clearly crucial: existing moulders had
a maximum of three, so Baker Perkins
decided to experiment with four, in
the same size frame to allow
retrofitting.
Bakers were asked for
improvements they would like to see
in moulder design. Maintenance,
cleaning, hygiene and dough piece
centralisation headed the list.
A flexible test bed utilised the DoE
(Design of Experiments) technique to
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identify more than 50 trials, on a variety of dough and
bread types, which would provide maximum information.
Simultaneous tests on previous generation moulders
established the improvements achieved.
Bakers also appreciate a solution to the centralisation
issue: rollers located prior to sheeting ensure the dough is
presented consistently to the sheeting rollers from any
direction – previously it had to be ‘in-line’
Bakers purchasing the Multitex4 have done so after
comparative tests with conventional machines in the Baker
Perkins Innovation Centre. Using their own ingredients
to evaluate the benefits of the four-roll concept, they have
all found that volume and cell counts increase by around
10%, and there is an improved crumb structure.
These benefits translate into better resistance to tearing;
a whiter loaf; a loaf up to 18% softer; and a strong, straight
sided shape that fills the tin well – particularly important
for sandwich producers.
Combined with its proven benefits in bread quality
compared with conventional moulders, there is a
compelling case to replace previous generation machines
with this new technology – the majority of leading plant
bakers in the UK have already invested in the Multitex4.
It is the continuous operation of the Multitex4 that
generates additional profit. Moulder stoppages for clean-
down have always been an unplanned, annoying and costly
40 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA APRIL/MAY 2007
part of the daily routine in plant bakeries.
They are usually attributable to sticky
dough that clogs up intermittent-motion
moulders: their origins are usually based
in changes in flour or amounts of dry
ingredients and water.
It takes between five and 15 minutes
for the operator to lift the pressure
boards, open the guards, and scrape out
the dough. Whilst that is happening,
the first prover and divider are also out
of action, and full of fermenting dough
becoming steadily stickier – making
another stoppage at the moulder a distinct
possibility. Sometimes it’s necessary to
empty the prover and divider, again
impacting directly onto profit.
Baker Perkins believes that, at a
conservative estimate, these stoppages
occur once a shift, with downtime
averaging one minute for every hour the
plant is in operation. On that basis, the
continuous operation feature of the
Multitex4 saves over £10,000 per annum
on a 5,000 loaves per hour plant.
On the same basis, eliminating dough
wastage at the divider and prover can
save another £1,000 for each 1% of dough now lost through
moulder stoppages. Some bakeries also find it viable to
increase water percentage in the dough, and there is the
possibility of yeast savings.
Experience in the most demanding bakery
environments has highlighted another Multitex4
advantage. The use of centralising rollers and close-
coupled sheeting rollers (the gap is less than 1mm) with
no scrapers or transfer plates means that the machine is
effectively self-cleaning. Hygiene is far superior to
conventional machines. The system is also designed to
process any double doughs effortlessly.
Leading plant bakers have invested in over the new
Multitex4 machines. It can provide a low-cost route to
the premium quality market; but if production costs are a
priority, the Multitex4 provides the opportunity to
significantly reduce the expense of key ingredients such
as improvers, without sacrificing quality. The quality and
cost benefits of the Multitex4 are also available on most
makes of installed dough moulder via a retrofit package.
Baker Perkins has fitted new Multitex4 heads to
moulders from other manufacturers in several plant
bakeries, and comparative tests confirmed that all the
benefits associated with the Multitex4 are achieved with
a head retrofit.